Name: Markus Aultellus
Appearance:
Skills: Markus rose to his rank with various skills both learned and natural with impressive deductive reason capability, superb pistol shooting,a skilled duelist with a blade, natural interrogator, strong willpower, and a quick wit.
Background: Markus was raised in his early years on a hive world in the deepest parts of the underhive of one of the largest hive cities. He likely would have lived out his life down there as one of countless millions like him if not for the simple fact his hive was falling to chaos and the world itself was at risk of following suit. The man who had turned this hive of billions was a single hierophant and the key to the hold chaos held on the world and so a inquisitor dispatched a cell to kill the hierophant and thus weaken the chaos forces before a proper response was sent.
During that time he was still young, barely more than a boy, in his time he had seen many strange things, mutants, underhive gangs, arbiters, and now more recently the cultists who came down to cull the underhive. These people were different though and despite his skills at hiding found him all too easily. They could not allow him to be released for fear of him revealing them though some did not wish to kill. He managed to save his own life by offering himself as a guide figuring that they wished to go higher into hive since he knew that nobody ever wished to stay in the underhive. This provided the leverage for those that wished to spare him was one of his first actions revealing his quick to members of the Inquisition. He did as he said leading the strange cadre of men and women up into the middle levels of the hive bypassing mas many cultists as possible ensuring the secrecy of the mission. His usefulness had come to an end but in knowing the fate of the hive they kept him with them as one of the uncorrupted members of the hive and a mere boy. Their mission was an eventual success pushing into the upper reaches of the hive and slaying the Hierophant as well as most of the other key heretics. Markus was enraptured by watching the amazing skills of the cadre seeing them doing seemingly fantastical things
Keeping with them he left his home with the inquisition cell out for the unknown galaxy. Over the years he learned a great many skills from various cell members and inquisitorial members. At first he was like a mascot even given a pair of oversized robes and a large =][= necklace as a bit of a joke. From inquisitorial stormtroopers though he learned how to shoot, how to fight like them, how to use explosives. From a death cult assassin he learned the uses of a blade, poisons, and stealth. It was they who gave him his surname even, someone of great renown in the sector though he knew nothing of them. From acolytes and logicians he learned a vast amount about the galaxy, logic, and acquiring knowledge. Even from a tech-priest he learned much of the ministrations for the technology of the Imperium. They found him a quick and willing student which helped to endear him to those he met as he grew into a young man. Once he was old enough there was little question of what he would do eventually being removed from the cell he had grown with and sent to another newly formed cell.
For years he served the Inquisition loyally rooting out heresy when he found it, putting down cultists, rounding up rogue psykers for death or the black ships. he was always learning trying to absorb more information. Despite growing up in an underhive he was voracious to learn, having his nose in a book just as often as in the sparring ring. The missions they went on became ever more dangerous though the cell managed no losses for quite some time. They were an effective force deducing hints to find what or who they searched for, at times their orders became strange but they always followed them and reported back to their Inquisitor. Their faith and loyalty were great strengths granting them the tenacity to succeed. Eventually that had to end, they were sent after after an enemy with little information aside from being enemies of the Imperium and being worthy only of death. When they arrived to a simple agri-world they prepared for their hardest fight yet but even then were not prepared for what they encountered, a daemonhost of inhuman power.
Markus and his cell tried to fight it, they used holy water, consecrated bolter rounds, holy swords, litanies of hate, and even your every day explosives. From that fight Markus alone survived his sword ended into the skull of the beast and the blade now broken in half and his allies dead about him. He meant the Inquisitor they responded to personally after that and was informed he was now an interrogator of his own. For several years he was sent away to learn at the hands of master in a hundred different fields, when he returned he was part of his Inquisitors retinue now following the man wherever he went or occasionally sent to supervise cells. The Inquisitor was a calm quiet man though ancient and powerful, He had an impossible number of secrets though over the years slowly revealed them to Markus.
Naturally the most damning of secrets he did not learn for years though learned a great deal from them. Such as on one mission, sent out on his own to meet with contacts of the Inquisitors on a far flung feral world. There he encountered a small group, he took them at first for monks of some kind though they moved with a strange fluid litheness and were abnormally tall. It was not until their leader pulled back her hood he learned that he was in the presence of Eldar, his first reaction was to go for his bolt pistol but knew he would be dead before he could even begin the draw so instead analyzed the situation as he was taught. Upon beginning discussion with the Eldar he realized his greatest fears on seeing them were true in that they were in fact the contacts he was sent to meet and were long associates of the Inquisitor. He acquired the information he was instructed to obtain and gave the Eldar a small black box he had never looked within in exchange. His Inquisitor asked him several questions when he got back and told him several things.
It was not until long afterwards he realized it had all been a test to see if he could think for himself or would let his indoctrination overtake him. As he had lived and progressed he had clearly passed beginning a long affair with interacting peacefully when Xenos when possible. His Inquisitor showed him much more of what would be considered heresy but each time showed him the results of those actions. The information from the Eldar allowed them to intercept an Ork WAAAAGH while it was still in space, binding a daemon allowed them to unleash it on the forces of an opposing dark god saving potentially thousands of guardsmen, nothing was truly sacred and everything was to further the aims of the Imperium and protect it's citizens. The puritans of the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy were the true enemies he learned, those who held back the Imperium from reaching it's greatest potential.
At last after aiding his Inquisitor in the great siege of Fort Vorvun where they held out for 3 months against a Chaos warband he was anointed as a Inquisitor in his own right. Since those days at the hand of his lord he has gone farther down the route of the radical, for nearly a century now he has fought the enemies of the Imperium collecting useful individuals along the way, treating with Xenos, working with heretics, protecting psykers, and even hindering the Ecclesiarchy at times. Thanks to his many allies though his age has not weakened him, if anything he has grown ever more powerful using xenos technology, rejuvenate drugs, and even undergoing surgeries considered heretical by the mechanicum. All this has only made him a greater weapon to protect the Imperium and destroy it's enemies.
His career on his own was instantly thrown in with other Radicals. On one of his first missions he performed a favor for another Inquisitor. A group of puritanical inquisitors had learned he was experimenting with the use of Xenos biological though he knew they could not prove it yet. He proceeded to lead them on a wild goose chase while Markus went to close down the primary lab. There the heretical scientists showed him their progress in merging human and tyranid DNA, overall he was not impressed. Countless failures were the subject was dead or might as well be while there were a handful of living specimens though these were mindless eating machines. Those he ordered to be sent to the frontline of the nearest warzone and unleashed against the enemy as shock troops. There was a single success though and this saved the scientists themselves from death. Alone in a room there was a man, if you could still call him that, with clear tyranid physical traits though the scientists told him he had only minor mental ones. Naturally Markus did not believe them but after a battery of tests could not die there was at the very least still a spark of humanity within him. Taking this single success to his ship Markus could easily imagine the potential such a beast had and sent scattered the scientists across a dozen sectors under new programs. Over the many years he developed some affinity for the hybrid. It's fierce hatred for Xenos and loyalty made it all to willing to throw it's life on the line for him which as an inquisitor he naturally exploited occasionally while being easy to maintain eating anything living having been devised from gaunt DNA.
Another momentous change in his early career was on one mission meant to be very simple. A traitor general was the target and Markus was engaging he had brought a few teams of stormtroopers to kill her but scarcely had he gotten into position for the surgical strike when the stumbled into the trap of another. For reasons still Markus is unsure of a lone eldar had been pursuing the general as well and he triggered the eldar's trap. Markus personally engaged the Sylrys Vix his new opponent and they dueled blade to blade though the springing of the trap and aroused the attentions of the traitor general. She brought her entire personal guard of one hundred guardsmen against them thinking it sufficient. Her foolishness cost her as the haemonculus proved to be a match for more than a dozen guardsmen alone while bringing horrifying beasts to battle as well while Inquisitorial Stormtroopers easily cut down the inferior trained and equipped guardsmen their flak armor and lasguns a large gap from the carapace armor and hellguns the black clad stormtroopers utilized. When enough were cut down a gap was broken their lines into which both he and the eldar rushed striking down the traitor with several degrees above overkill.
With their mutual enemy they turned to each other and it seemed their duel might have resumed if not for over two dozen hellguns arrayed against the now lone eldar. Initially he had planned to interrogate and then either kill or hand off the eldar to be experimented on but something struck him in their discussions. This eldar was a phenomenal oddity having willingly abandoned his brethren in their hidden city and struck out on his own. He even found a bit of a kindred spirit in the ways of exploring and finding new things and so Markus offered him a chance to travel with him which the eldar naturally accepted. For decades now they have traveled together an odd pair, perhaps not friends or comrades but certainly not enemies. The eldar given hundreds of heretics and traitors to perform his experiments on as well as a vast series of rooms to contain them in while occasionally putting his skills to aid the inquisitor against his enemies.
For decades Markus fought against the Emperor's enemies using any tool at his disposal managing to slide under the radar of the more puritanical members of the inquisition only rarely being noticed by them and even then often easily throwing them off the scent. Most members of his retinue were short lived and was never inclined to take on an interrogator. His most recent addition to his team until now was a guardsman, one who stood out more than almost any before him. Jacobus Sammael Raus, a man not even from an advanced world. Despite this when his own world was attacked by orks he alone of several regiments managed to survive where thousands died. For months somehow the man lived in the hostile land of an ork overrun world. His survival was not even known until Markus arrived on planet with an Inquisitorial detachment and began the purge of the planet. Only once it began was he discovered with all the signs of having survived that time and having even fought the entire time. He was naturally debriefed and questioned about the event and in the end was found to be still loyal to the Emperor of Mankind. Such a skilled survivor is a rare thing and while initially destined for Inquisitorial Stormtrooper Corp instead Markus had him brought to his retinue instead knowing the value of such a man in the dire circumstances an inquisitor can find himself in.
His last assignment was in dealing with a new interrogator who was involved with a radical inquisitor who had gotten himself executed. He did little during the investigation but watch her, seeing how she reacted to her situation. He saw immense value in her and while she had taken part in what some would consider heretical acts was still quite possibly not as radical as he wished but she certainly had the potential. She had little interaction with the Imperial Cult and was a blank, an immense boon for when he wished to deal with daemons. Of those involved in the investigation when it came to decide her fate two of the inquisitors wished to have her executed but instead he spoke up on her behalf. In private he told the other inquisitors he would take her into his retinue and oversee the end of her training and if she was a danger end her himself. He would take full responsibility for her and so even though both had wanted her killed agreed that they would stand by his longer assessment when it was made but all blame would rest with him if she turned to out heretical. With that he had her assigned to him and once she was under his direct command had her undergo a brief personal interview. She was strong willed and of great potential. She has only been with him a short time and so keeps himself and his more strange companions from her when he can though will soon be back to more significant missions where he will be unable to hide things from her sight.
His latest mission was to defeat a chaos incursion, however, when they arrived they found it already nearly under control. Somehow a suicide squad sent to buy time had not just succeeded but had survivors. Sent against such foes as chaos space marines and sorcerers they some yet lived. Reading the after action report instantly he knew something was awry cutting off a single individual and sacrificing her when there were so many. Then alone she killed almost everyone there, it was impossible, simple, blatantly, impossible. He instant set about covering up what he could and learned what he could about her indirectly. He used agents to talk to her about the circumstances and came to one of two conclusions, either the Warp blessed her or the Emperor did and he would find out which even if it killed her.